.png)
 |
| Landon Lauder Class of 2017 |
Repressive regimes are not foreign. We know of their existence in various political states, such as China, Russia, and North Korea, just to name a few. What may be obstructed from view is the timing of repressive actions and how many are affected by a state’s active punishing for dissidence. Rory Truex, a professor from Princeton University, spoke to the memory of these unknown soldiers—those who actively fight against the repressive regime in China, no matter how small the effort.
On the commonly used “Political Terror Scale,” China, according to Dr. Truex, is a solid four; a rating of four reads as follows: “Civil and political rights violations have expanded to large numbers of the population. Murders, disappearances, and torture are a common part of life. In spite of its generality, on this level terror affects those who interest themselves in politics or ideas.” Let that sink in for a minute or two.
Then think of the amount of people in a country of nearly 1.3 billion that are actively fighting against this oppression. Would you believe that number totals to about four or five per year?
Neither does Dr. Truex. So what happens to these people and when? This was the research question Dr. Truex explained to us; or at least tried to.
His argument rested upon the theory that certain events in time can cause opportunities for political dissidents in China to express themselves in a more highlighted moment in history, hopefully aiding their cause. More specifically, Dr. Truex emphasized what he coined as a “coordination event,” which can be “an event known in advance that reduces the coordination costs of collective action,” such as anniversaries of key historical moments (i.e. Tiananmen), national commemorations, and the like. In addition to other types of significant events, such as leadership changes or policy blunders, Dr. Truex argued these were the times during which not only political dissidence rose, but so did arrests for these martyrs.
Among these are possibly some of today’s foremost political thinkers writing to overturn a modern oppressive regime. Take for example Liu Xiaobo, who wrote “Charter 08,” largely seen as what a democratic PRC constitution would be, was imprisoned and awarded the Nobel Peace Prize while in prison for inciting subversion of state power. There is also the case of Liu Di, who took to the keyboard to help expose the current regime. She embraced the nickname of “Stainless Steel Rat,” which, as Dr. Truex hinted towards, is possibly a reference to the tiny Cybermats from Dr. Who.
What Dr. Truex found was limited, however, due to the degree of opaqueness of the Chinese government in releasing these obviously sensitive statistics to the US government. Nevertheless, breaking down the imprisonment data from the Congressional-Executive Commission On China Political Prisoner Database by month, there were a few shocking conclusions.
First, which may not be all that shocking, there were only a handful of reported imprisoned political dissidents for any given time period, which Dr. Truex read as a moot point, seeing as we can all assume it is much greater.
Secondly, the amount of prisoners during coordination events and external mobilizations (events happening internationally, such as the Arab Spring, that challenge the current regime), account for over half of those imprisoned for political subversion since 1998.
Lastly, the current statistics between 2012 and 2014 reveal a much higher rate of incarceration for political subversion than those before it (up until 1998, where Dr. Truex’s data begins). This largely confirms suspicions, according to Dr. Truex, that the current regime under Xi Jinping is the most repressive since Mao.
Whether a political philosopher or tiny cyber activist, the future looks bleak in China for any political thought other than the regime’s.
Landon Lauder is a junior McConnell Scholar at the University of Louisville. He studies political science, psychology, and social change.